Water Resources warns of water scarcity by 2035

 
12/16/2021

Economy News _ Baghdad

On Thursday, the Ministry of Water Resources warned of a decrease in the amount of 11 billion cubic meters of water entering the country annually by 2035. 

The ministry’s advisor, Aoun Diab Abdullah, told the official newspaper, and continued, “Al-Iqtisad News,” that “the strategic study completed by the ministry indicates that there will be a 30% decrease in the percentage of water received annually to Iraq from what it is currently reaching by the year 2035, meaning that the amount of the decrease will reach 11 billion cubic meters, after Turkey, Iran and Syria completed their irrigation projects," noting that "the country's consuming need for water will increase in conjunction with the increase in its population, which will reach 60 million in 2035." 

He added that "the ministry provided a set of treatments, which was confronted with influential factors that became an obstacle to their implementation, such as the financial crisis, the security and economic situation, in addition to the Corona pandemic," stressing "the need to find accurate accounts to confront the water shortage, and to implement the proposed solutions through the strategic study, which are two-way, the first Continuing negotiations with neighboring countries to reach a clear and binding agreement on fair and specific shares of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and the second trend is to reform and develop the current irrigation system, using modern technologies to reduce waste, not throwing waste and discharging sewage into rivers, and rationalizing human consumption. 

He pointed out that the ministry is currently working on updating the strategic study and building irrigation projects using closed irrigation, spraying and drip methods, noting that "Iraq may resort to requesting compensation from the countries causing these changes, which is a legitimate right, or it may propose some projects for investment to improve and operate." 

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